Giants' Victor Cruz is ready to shine at receiver with Steve Smith gone

Tim Farrell/The Star-LedgerThe Giants' Victory Cruz had 15 catches for 297 yards and four touchdowns in last year's four preseason exhibition games.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Victor Cruz has not yet recorded a catch in a meaningful NFL game. He went undrafted last season, bypassed through seven rounds by 32 teams — including the Giants. And yet Cruz is somehow a fan favorite, a household name among Giants fans with expectations to contribute in 2011.

How did it happen? The 2010 preseason.

Cruz totaled 15 catches for 297 yards and four touchdowns in last year’s four exhibition games, highlighted by his six-catch, 145-yard, three-touchdown effort against the Jets on national television in the unofficial football debut of New Meadowlands Stadium.

Coach Tom Coughlin, never one to bestow undeserved praise, remarked, “Justice has been served.” One year later, Cruz is ready to take an even bigger preseason leap now that the Giants are without Steve Smith, and Cruz is a candidate to become the team’s No. 3 wide receiver.

“I think I can build a lot,” Cruz said. “I’m a lot more comfortable now so it just takes time to run some reps against some other opponent that doesn’t know what’s coming. I feel like I can do a lot in this offense. I’m really comfortable, I know my stuff and I’m ready.”

Cruz’s headlining preseason earned him a spot on the 2010 active roster, but his struggles on special teams prompted the team to inactivate Cruz for two of the five games last season before he was placed on injured reserve on Oct. 16 with a strained hamstring.

Although the injury did not initially appear like one that would end a season, the Giants needed roster space and an independent doctor confirmed that Cruz would miss a few weeks. The Giants were later left second-guessed when injuries ravaged the receiving corps, and they needed to sign in-season free agents instead of playing one of their most promising preseason performers.

“It seemed like every week we were losing somebody,” Cruz said. “You always want to come back and be in a position where you can possibly help your team.”

Yet Cruz’s spin is that he benefited from the experience of spending a year in the Giants facility, if not on the practice field. He spent the weeks on injured reserve studying the playbook and learning all the receiver positions. Most of his time in last year’s preseason was spent at the “Z” — the flanker spot in the offense. But he now has a grasp on the slot, which is the role Smith occupied and the one Cruz might be relied upon to fill this season.

That’s where he’ll need to excel during the preseason, which the Giants open tonight against the Carolina Panthers. It’s one of four games, and Cruz values all four after his experience last season.

When initial collective bargaining negotiations including a proposal to cut the preseason from four games to two, Cruz was steadfast in his hopes that the preseason would remain unchanged.

“That is where you can make a mark and show in live action against other guys and other teams what you can do,” Cruz said. “Those preseason games were very important for me personally.”

One year later, the preseason games are still important for Cruz. Except instead of trying to show he’s worthy of making the roster, Cruz must now prove he’s able to take on a big role in the offense.

“I kind of still think back and look at it and feel like I can do this. I can play here, I can play at this level,” Cruz said. “Coming off last year, I think about it, but I kind of just forget about it and think about this year and focus. It’s another year, it’s a new year.”